More buses assigned to 11 Bayview route

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The 11 Bayview bus route is one of 32 TTC routes that will be given more buses because of crowding.  The changes were made beginning today (Sunday, December 5, 2013) to routes that include the 504 King (streetcar) and the 41 Keele. Four bus routes will be changed to accommodate LRT construction on Eglinton and increase service reliability, the TTC said in a release. The 72 Pape bus will be split into two routes. The 72 will run from Pape Station to Commissioners and Cherry streets then connect with a new route, the resurrected 172 Cherry Street, which will operate from St Andrew and King stations. The 97 Yonge will split into north and south sections. The northern section will run between Steeles Avenue and Lawrence Station. The southern section will run from York Mills Station to Davisville Station, with peak period service to Queens Quay

Warning: Here we go again with the freezing rain

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Environment Canada has issued a freezing rain warning for much of southern Ontario. The warning includes the GTA and also extends down from London to the Niagara region, and from Kitchener into eastern Ontario. The agency says there is a risk of freezing rain this evening. A couple of hours of freezing rain is possible north of lakes Erie and Ontario. Snowfall will begin late in the afternoon. The snow will change to rain as the temperature rises to 3 degrees. About 2 to 4 cm of snow is expected in Toronto.

Police launch winter boot drive for needy

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TPS release — (edited) — The Toronto Police Service Divisional Policing Support Unit is leading a Winter Boot Drive, starting Saturday, January 4, 2014. There are hundreds of homeless people living outdoors who do not have proper footwear to withstand the harsh winter season. Keeping dry when the temperatures are below zero is crucial. We are asking the public to donate new or lightly used winter boots. Drop-boxes will be situated in the lobby of all Toronto Police Divisions, including Headquarters, until Sunday, January 12, 2014. Please visit our website for locations. Items will be donated to shelters across Toronto and distributed to those in need. If any retailers would like to make donations, please contact Constable Patty Retsinas at 416-808-0111 or via email. Your support is greatly appreciated.

“Sorry, did you want to go outside today?”

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There has been a “down easter” storm across the Atlantic coast that has piled up snow outside doorways and seriously snarled the area (inset). If you ever wondered why front doors open inwards, this picture explains it. Note the indentations of the door panels in the waist-high snow. Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro says tens of thousands of its customers are in the dark after a fire broke out at a terminal station following a powerful blizzard overnight Friday. John MacIsaac of the utility says a transformer malfunctioned at the Sunnyside terminal station around 9 a.m. Saturday, causing a fire and initially knocking out power for 190,000 customers. He says the fire is under control and no one was injured. Newfoundland Power says about 125,000 customers were still without power Saturday afternoon, mostly in eastern parts of the island. MacIsaac says although progress to get people reconnected will be made today, some customers will still be without power Sunday afternoon. The province had already been grappling with rolling blackouts implemented Thursday evening by the utility as it tried to cope with increased demand because of bitterly cold temperatures. Twitter photo Will Fowler, Newfoundland 

Well-shod dog “helps clear the fallen branches”

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While the Deputy Mayor, Mr Kelly, is said to be pondering the possibility of asking for the help of the army to clean up the masses of tree branches around over Toronto, this happy white and black dog with winter foot wear does his bit by carrying home a freshly fallen stick with his master right behind. They were enjoying the sun but possibly not the cold as they trudged through the wide boulevard land of Glebe Manor Square East on Belsize Drive. At City Hall the deputy said he was thinking about how to perhaps use the manpower of the army to get the large job of brush removal finished sooner than the estimated eight weeks it will take for municipal workers to do it by themselves. 

Meeting Wednesday on McRae Drive proposal

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Click to enlarge

Those interested in the proposed town house development on the long-ago site of Bill and Vito’s service station at the corner of McRae Drive and Sutherland Ave will want to stop in on an information meeting on Wednesday January 8, 2014 at 6.30 p.m.in the William Lea Room at Leaside Memorial Gardens. The plan calls for six town homes on McRae and two new detached houses on Sutherland Drive. The existing two bungalows would be demolished  There is a lot of information in this pdf from City planning staff about the required re-zoning.. 

Zoe’s letter in bottle gets reply 23 years later

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Young Zoe and her letter

In 1990, 10-year-old Zoe Lemon threw a bottle containing a message from the deck of a North Sea ferry as she and her parents set off on a vacation to Germany. The family had their vacation, came home to Manchester, Zoe grew up, married and had children of her own and then — just before Christmas 2013 — Zoe’s parents received a letter replying to their daughter’s 23-year-old message in a bottle. It turned out to be from Piet and Jacqueline Lateur in the Netherlands. Piet was walking his dog in the Oosterschelde dykes, near where he and his wife Jacqueline live in Serooskerke, near Rotterdam, when he found the bottle with Zoe’s letter inside it. Zoe, 33, who is originally from Hebden Bridge but now works in a jewellery shop and lives in Pendleton said: “It’s been a bit crazy really. My parents came to visit on Christmas day and they had this letter from Europe addressed to my maiden name, Lemon. “The first thing I saw was my hand writing as a child and my little letter saying who I was and about my pets and my hobbies. It made me a bit emotional.” Mailonline